HAMILTON, Ont. — All four of David Shore’s daughters have attended Kehila Jewish Community Day School in Hamilton. His youngest, though, won’t be able to graduate from the school.

This spring, Kehila’s board of directors made the difficult decision to close the kindergarten-to-Grade 5 school due to lack of funding and low enrolment.

But there is hope. A group of parents of current kindergarten and Grade 1 students has decided to keep the school open for next year with between 11 and 15 students. A new board has been formed and the goal is to grow the school up to Grade 5 again.

“It was my great hope that my youngest daughter would graduate from Kehila like her three older sisters,” said Shore, the past chair of the school’s board. “But we felt we needed to make the decision to close the school because we would not be able to raise the necessary funds to operate in our current form.”

Kehila was opened in 1999 by a small group of parents seeking an alternative to the Hamilton Hebrew Academy. They wanted a school that was pluralistic and egalitarian. Kehila prides itself on integrating secular studies with Jewish customs and religion, as well as on an “arts-enhanced curriculum” that lets students “explore subject areas through music, drama, visual arts and dance.”

The school, which is housed in Temple Anshe Sholom, opened with five children and peaked at 41. It had 26 students enrolled this year. 

“The Hamilton Hebrew Academy community is very welcoming and very warm, but it is not what some families are looking for. The priorities and teaching style are that of an Orthodox school,” Shore said. 

Since its founding, Kehila has insisted that every student who desires a Jewish education should receive one. With between 40 and 80 per cent of students receiving tuition subsidies over that time, Kehila has always relied heavily on donations and annual fundraising efforts. 

Ryan Lobb, who has three children at Kehila, is the new chair of the board.

“I feel it is important to give a choice to the Hamilton Jewish community for an egalitarian and pluralistic school which supports both Beth Jacob and Temple Anshe Sholom synagogues,” he said. 

While there’s still a funding shortfall for next year, the need is not as great with fewer grades. For 2015-16, the funding gap stood at $65,000. Lobb said $20,000 has already been pledged, leaving $45,000 still to be raised. To run the school with the upper grades (2 to 5) would have required closer to $80,000. 

Kehila receives funds and support from the Hamilton Jewish Federation, and the amount is based each year on the number of students beyond junior kindergarten. Shore said he did not ask the federation to bail out the school and is hopeful funds can be raised privately.

“Kehila contributes to the rich diversity that exists in Jewish Hamilton and provides choice for families in Hamilton who want their children to receive a non-Orthodox Jewish education,” said federation CEO Barb Babij. “Federation is funding Kehila again this year. If Kehila were to close, we would lose that choice in Hamilton and would lose something precious, probably for good.”

Neither Shore nor Babij would reveal the precise amount of money the school receives from federation, and Babij did not answer when asked if the federation would consider providing the school with extra funding to keep it open.

Lobb said the school needs to increase enrolment, fundraise for bursaries and find donors to fund its special-needs program. Kehila employs one part-time and one full-time educational assistant.

Shore believes in the need for an alternative for Hamilton families. 

“This year, of the 26 students, almost none of them would go to Hamilton Hebrew Academy if Kehila didn’t exist. Maybe one or two and the rest would have gone to public school. I think that would be a shame,” he said. “Having the alternative meant 26 kids this year received a high-quality Jewish education who otherwise wouldn’t have.”